Friday 17th January. Underway again at about 05.30 on Friday morning into a changed world of calm seas and clearing skies with amazing views of this winter wonderland opening up to us. I had no preconception of what Antarctica would be, but the immensity and sheer scale of the scenery and its foreboding beauty really took my breath away. The massive mountains of black rock mantled in blue, white and grey shades of snow and ice makes a truly magnificent but, at the same time, a totally inhospitable looking environment. It makes you wonder what was in the minds of the early explorers of this frigid continent that made them think it might be a good idea to walk into its bright but oh so dark heart. The thirst for fame and fortune or just the need to know what’s over the next rise and what your physical and mental self can endure?
The first destination today was a channel between Ardowski Peninsular on the mainland and Curverville Island where, after dodging ice flows, the skipper held station in Tecla as we went ashore to visit with some Gentoos. Afterwards we motored on across Gerlache Channel to a small promontory called Waterboat Point at the entrance to Paradise Harbour. As we were making our way there a large RIB came up alongside with a group of Chilean Naval and Airforce personnel on board. After a brief chat, and as we were planning to anchor at Waterboat Point, they invited us to visit them at their base on the point.
Saturday morning started with a 01.00 anchor watch for me that saw me fending of two growlers of about 3m across, a bit of excitement! As compensation for the early morning the sky to the South was quite a spectacular hue with the snow-covered mountains silhouetted against it. This is a land of midnight sun with the sun merely dipping below the horizon to give these ephemeral twilights. Later in the morning we had been invited ashore to the Chilean base where we were given a guided tour of the facility and its attendant museum. They were very welcoming. The base is surrounded by a colony of Gentoos making it rather pungent but the presence of an albino Gentoo gave, what has become a run of the mill wildlife experience, an new perspective. The base personnel told us that this penguin has been a member of the colony for the last 4 or 5 years. Gentoos pair for life and return to the same nest site in their birth colony year after year. Although described as an albino it did not have the characteristic pink eyes and the plumage that would normally be black actually had a very pale pigmentation, weak cappuccino, so I believe that it was actually a very pale morth rather than a true albino. I have noticed other Gentoos where some of the darker plumage had brown streaking.
The museum was mainly dedicated to the building of the Chilean base which dated back to the late 1940’s but also had a small section explaining how Waterboat Point came to get its name. In the early 1900’s a British scientific expedition was resident in the area but unable to achieve its primary objective decided to withdraw. Two of the young scientists who had not completed their studies objected and elected to stay on over the winter months and into the next year living in conditions of great privation in a waterboat that had been converted into a hut and had a small annex added. When early in the next summer season a whaling ship arrived to relieve them they refused to leave and asked the captain to return, which he did, a month later when they had finished their research. Amongst other things, theirs was the first year long study of a Gentoo colony. One final point of note is that, although it occasional hosts scientist, this is not a scientific research station but rather it is a search and rescue facility manned, for the four summer months, by volunteers from the Chilean Air Force and Navy. Laughing, they told us that they are not very busy.
In the afternoon we motored for about 20 minutes in the rib to reach a rocky headland where the fitter more adventurous amongst us climbed a steep slope of weather shattered rock to reach a snow field that was traversed to achieve the high point on a rocky promontory giving us fabulous 3600 views of the surrounding bays, islands and peninsular. Throughout most of the climb we were passing through small nesting groups of Gentoos with the occasional Chinstrap thrown into the mix. There were also a few locations where nesting Skua’s were to be seen. These were very vocal with the objections to our presence and, during the traverse of the snow field, one took complete umbridge and proceeded to repeatedly dive bomb Will who was leading the group, twice making contact with his head and knocking his sunglasses off. Will later admitted that, if he had not been with ‘guests’, the Skua may have met with a more robust response to its antics.
After descending we had a short wait on the headland for the RIB to return during which we touched on such deep and meaningful issues as who would be first on the menu if we were stranded there with no food – I suspect we may have resorted to penguin first!
It had been great to get out and walk in such amazing scenery but on the ride back to Tecla the day was elevated too one of those once in a life time experiences when a spotted a pod of Orca (Killer Whales) of to our starboard and, when we went for a closer look, one suddenly appeared on the surface no more than 20m ahead of the RIB. It then dove under us. An awe inspiring if slightly scary moment. After this we proceeded to follow them for some distance as the cruised up the channel before eventually sounding and disappearing.
Just to round of the day I was on anchor watch from 22.00 to 23.00 when the sinking sun was slanting through the mountains to our south with the last rays striking the ice flows and bergs in the surrounding bays. A Leopard Seal on one of the ice flows being harassed by a Skua completed the picture to perfection.
